The LORD Still Speaks
This entry may read a lot more like sermon outline than a traditional blog post. Consider yourself warned. I am going to provide several illustrations from scripture where the audible voice of God proves itself mighty. Each illustration will highlight a unique quality of God’s voice (really, they are qualities of God in general, I am simply using specific instances where God’s voice is recorded in the Bible and those qualities are on display). Each instance will have ‘a’ point, but you will have to wait until the end for ‘the’ point.
“And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:3
God literally spoke our world – our entire universe – into existence. God’s voice creates.
“’Do not lay a hand on the boy’ [God] said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD will provide…” Genesis 22:12-14
Many times recorded in the Bible we see that God rewards obedience and in this story in particular, because of Abraham’s obedience, God’s voice provides.
“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” John 5:8-9a
I do not think any commentary is needed here – God’s voice heals.
“[Jesus] got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” Mark 4:39
If you are familiar with this story, there is some irony here as well, because in vs. 41 we learn that because of his power displayed it says the disciples “were terrified.” Regardless of the disciples’ fear, we see that God’s voice calms.
“…Jesus called out in a loud voice ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.” John 11:43-44
Here we read of Jesus not just healing, but raising a dead man back to life. In a more generalized look at this story, God’s voice restores.
“When Jesus said, ‘I am he’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” John 18:6
This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. If you read on in chapter 18, Peter cuts off the ear of one of the soldiers and Jesus immediately heals it – showing that Jesus had no ill intentions when they all fell to the ground. They were only reacting to the power of His person, the vocal announcement of his identity. When I was brainstorming for this post, I struggled to land on a particular word to describe God’s voice in this passage. While consulting with a close friend, he made the perfect suggestion – God’s voice proclaims.
Arguments can and have been made as to whether God still speaks audibly. Those who claim to have heard the voice in our “modern times” seem to have experienced such things in a moment of desperation – or a season of crisis – times of high stress. The LORD still speaks – through his Holy Word, the Bible. I provided only small snippets of six stories in scripture. If you are not familiar with some, or any of the stories I have highlighted – and even if you are – I strongly encourage you to read each of these stories in full. Real men read the Bible.
“For the word of the LORD is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12